


campe diem!

by wubling



Series: Camp Sanders AU [1]
Category: Sanders Sides, Thomas Sanders - RPF
Genre: Camping, Children, Fishing, Friendship, Hikes, Human AU, Nature Walks, One-Shot, Summer Camp AU, Watching Movies, arts and crafts, consider it more of the exaggerated character Thomas than real Thomas
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-10
Updated: 2017-08-10
Packaged: 2018-12-13 14:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,688
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11761986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wubling/pseuds/wubling
Summary: "He could tell he already liked all the counselors, but the last one in particular wouldn't leave his mind."Or: Human AU where Thomas is a teeny tiny camper that's just having a good time with his four neato camp counselors.





	campe diem!

**Author's Note:**

> Yes, the title is a Camp Camp reference. Yes, this entire fic came about after watching Camp Camp. That being said, i promise it's far less inappropriate. 
> 
> Also, I would like to mention that I have very little prior experience writing younger characters, so please go easy on me! For reference, Thomas and his fellow campers are within the 7-10 age range or so with Thomas himself being 8.
> 
> With all that aside, please enjoy!

"Gooooood morning, Camp Sanders campers!" the cheery man by the front entrance greeted.

Thomas and his friends were nearly shrieking in excitement - today was finally the first day of summer day camp! To Thomas, this was always the most exciting time of the year next to Christmas or any day new episodes of Steven Universe came out. He scuttled towards the cheerful counselor with a bright smile on his face.

The counselor looked down at him and ruffled his hair. "Aren't you the cutest little dickens!" He lifted Thomas up onto his shoulders. "Everyone, my name is Patton! I'll be one of your four fantastic counselors this week! Come in, come in, the others are waiting!"

Thomas looked around. Beside the cabin they were headed towards was the big, beautiful forest that stretched across the horizon. At his normal eight year old height, little Thomas wouldn't have seen much unless he tilted his head back reeeeal far, but now that he was getting a ride on Patton's shoulders, he thought he must be at least ten feet tall!

Inside the cabin was a fluffy red rug and four chairs. The empty one, presumably Patton's, was wooden, covered in stickers, and had a light gray cardigan draped across the back. The next seat was a practical folding chair holding the sternest looking counselor. He seemed uncomfortable among the children. The third seat was also wooden, though it was painted dark red and held a much friendlier looking counselor with a matching red sash that draped across him. The final chair wasn't a chair at all, really - it seemed to just be some drawer from another room. This seat's counselor was wearing a heavy dark jacket and refused to make eye contact with any of the other people in the room.

"Alright, c'mon down kiddo," Patton cooed. He knelt down to give Thomas less of a fall. Once Thomas climbed off and sat on the rug with the others, Patton trotted to the front and sat in his chair. "Again, I'm Patton! I'm in charge of lake activities for the week! Fishing, swimming, collecting rocks...you never know what we'll be up to on those lovely banks!"

Next up was the stern counselor. He cleared his throat. "My name is Logan. I'll be taking you out into the forest for nature walks. You are allowed to take as many pictures as you like, but turn your flash functions off if possible, as it may disturb the animals."

The kids fell silent at his seriousness. The third counselor quickly laughed and soaked up the spotlight. "I'm Roman! While those nerds over there try to get you to exercise or whatever-" This got a few giggles, including Patton's. "-I'll be handling the most important station of any camp ever! Drum roll please!" Patton and the kids began tapping their laps. Logan and the unknown counselor rolled their eyes. "Arts and crafts!" A few kids cheered, some smiled, one coughed. Roman seemed satisfied by this and looked at the fourth counselor expectingly, as did the rest of the people in the room.

At first, he cowered back a bit. "Uh...you're all...looking at me..." He took a deep breath though, calming himself down. "My name's....Um." He coughed. "Anyway, you can call me Anx, I guess. I'm just gonna be here playing movies and maybe making popcorn if we have any. If, uh...if you have any questions...? Ask the other three."

Thomas looked from Anx to the other three. The energy from him was a lot different. He flashed Anx the brightest smile he could to cheer him up but, while Anx's expression softened, he seemed unable to smile back. Thomas felt a bit disappointed.

As the counselors began dividing people up, Thomas moved outside of the cabin with his new group. He could tell he already liked all the counselors, but the last one in particular wouldn't leave his mind.

* * *

 

The lake was rather small, but the water was clean and glistening. Even as he was still approaching the bank, Thomas could see some really neat fish swimming around. He ended up at the front of the line when Patton began taking volunteers to go on the first boat ride.

Sat with three other campers and Patton, Thomas was soon headed towards the middle of the lake. Patton gave everyone a small fishing rod. Thomas's happened to be a darker pink color. He liked it a lot and hoped that the fish would too so they might come by his rod more quickly than the others'. Patton's fishing rod was sleeker and dark brown. It was clear that he spent a lot of time fishing from the rod's professional look.

"It's the perfect father-son bonding experience, after all!" Patton explained when one of the campers asked. "Well, father to child, I suppose. Counselor to child. Anywho, we have to pick our bait! The fish love worms! It's their favorite food! So..." He pulled the lid off of a small paper cup. Inside was a pile of ice and a few worms. Some were moving, but the rest were quite possibly dead. "...we put the worm on the hook to lead the fish to us! Got it?"

"I don't want a live one," Thomas said sadly. "We gotta stab it with the hook, right? I don't wanna hurt it."

"Patty, how come the fish eat the worm and get stuck on the hook?"

Patton thought this over for a moment. His hook was already in the water, the small red bulb floating on the surface. "What's your favorite food, kiddos?"

"Ice cream!"

"Spaghetti!"

Thomas grinned wide. "Pizza!"

"All great choices!" Patton complimented. "Now, if you saw a plate of that food on your table, wouldn't you wanna eat it? That's like what the fish see. They don't really see the string, just the food! And since they don't realize it's a trap...well, let's just say it doesn't exactly go  _swimmingly_ for them."

The children looked at each other with fear. "Wh-What if someone puts string in our food? I don't wanna get caught too!"

Thomas shook his head, giggling a bit. "We wouldn't get caught. We're big kids! Nobody could get us off guard!"

"That's the spirit, kiddo!" Patton praised. His line was being pulled a bit, so he began to quickly reel in his fish. It was fairly small, but Thomas liked the colors: dark gray with blue stripes going down the sides. "I don't think Logan would like if I tried to bring any fish to the campsite...so let's throw 'em back in after we're done looking, alright?

"You can do that?" one camper asked.

"Well, sure! I'm sure the fish appreciate the thought!" Patton gleefully released the fish, watching it swim off into the distance. He gave it a friendly wave. As he turned around to grab more bait, he noticed a certain tyke pouting a little. "Thomas? Everything alright, buddy?"

"I didn't wanna hurt a fish...but I wanna bring something back as a gift! Can I catch one for a present?"

Patton bit his lip. "Afraid not, kiddo. But, um...how about this: we'll head back to shore soon and while I'm picking up the rest of the group, you can look in the sand for treasures! There must be some hidden coins or fun shells around here somewhere!"

Thomas smiled and nodded. Patton helped the campers fish for a little while longer before returning to land to give other children a chance. As he set off back to the middle of the lake, Thomas began poking around. He dug through the small bit of sand, only to find boring old pebbles and bits of litter. It wasn't until he came across a larger rock that he grinned excitedly. It was mostly dark gray, but had a bit of a purple shine to it. He thought it would be the perfect present.

* * *

 

"Did everyone bring a camera? How about a water bottle? And I encourage the use of a compass and/or map, though I will know the way back. It's simply a safety measure."

"Can we get goin' already?" one of the campers scolded. "We're s'pposed to be hiking!"

The comment seemed to rub Logan the wrong way, but he simply adjusted his glasses and threw on his backpack. "I suppose you're correct. Let us be off! There are many sights to see!"

As much as Thomas had enjoyed the fishing trip Patton took him on, he was more excited to go on Logan's hike! The trail led through the parts of the forest most populated by beautiful flowers and trees: at least that's what his mama told him. He got his tiny Polaroid ready. He always loved to use the dinky little thing; instantly getting the picture was more satisfying than needing to print it out from the computer.

Down the trail the group went. Thomas searched high and low for perfect photo opportunities. He spotted a bird in a tree, but the picture ended up as nothing more than a blur of red. He attempted to snap a shot of a flower but the sun's glare in the lens ruined it. He even wanted to take a photo of Logan, but Logan refused to stop moving or speaking to get a good one. Thomas was starting to lose hope for his camera until they reached the midpoint of the trail.

Logan stopped them at a clearing so they could have lunch. While everyone unpacked their sandwiches and chip bags, Thomas scurried to the edge of the clearing. He could just barely see a deer's outline in the shadows. It's head turned toward him. Slowly, he raised his camera up and took the shot. The deer immediately ran off in fear, but Thomas was no longer concerned by that, since he was now retrieving the photo from the camera. Logan had to lead Thomas back to the others to get him to actually eat while he held the picture.

"Eat," Logan ordered, nearing the end of his patience.

"Hold on."

"No, Thomas. You need to eat. Your lunch will give you the energy needed to finish our hike."

"But I-"

"If I keep the photograph steady for you, will you eat something?"

This seemed to please Thomas. He nodded and quickly shoved everything on his hands towards Logan. Once he was free, he began to wolf down his bagged lunch. Logic followed his end of the deal, smiling slightly at the relief of not having to worry about the kid so much. He found himself surprised by the picture Thomas had took: despite the dark lighting, he could clearly make out the deer and the way the light reflected off its eyes gave it a spooky effect. Logan was impressed.

"Excellent photograph, Thomas!" he exclaimed. "May I show the others? It may motivate them to become equally interested in the wilderness!"

Thomas looked away bashfully. "I dunno...I jus' wanted to give the picture as a gift."

Logan sighed. "Of course." He sounded disappointed, but brushed it off and stood up tall.

"Alright, campers, lunch break time is over." He handed back Thomas's photo as he addressed the group. "If we don't get to the edge of the path soon, we'll be behind schedule!"

"Behind schedule...so less time for crafts?" Thomas exclaimed. He scrambled to his feet and ran towards where Logan was walking off. "Don't leave me behind!"

Logan didn't look back, but he couldn't help but a grin a little. Thomas was certainly an interesting kid in his eyes. Anyone that showed interest in his teachings had a place in his heart, if he were to be sentimental about it.

* * *

 

The arts and crafts tables were what Thomas was really excited for when he was signed up for camp. He was an artsy kid. Better in front of a camera perhaps, but he loved getting creative in general. He plopped down right next to Roman at the picnic tables. Roman handed everyone three Popsicle sticks. Then he placed yarn in the middle of the space, spreading it out so that everyone could reach at least one spool of it.

"Good afternoon, children! I expect you're excited to find out what can be done with yarn and Popsicle sticks! Well, my friends, we are creating turtles today!"

Thomas stared in disbelief. Surely he couldn't create a turtle with such simple materials! As old as he thought himself to be, he was still young enough to have not created all that many craft projects. He was excited to learn!

"To start off, we'll paint the sticks green. I have a lime green and a forest green - like the trees, you see - and you may choose whichever you'd like for the skin of your turtle!"

Thomas wasn't sure which color to go with. He thought that this would also make a great gift but what color would be best? He settled for forest green, thinking a darker color would be more agreeable to the gift receiver, and glued the sticks together as Roman was now instructing. They all also added a face onto the heads with marker. Thomas couldn't quite see the turtle coming together yet, though.

"Now wrap the yarn of your choosing around like this...yes, this girl over here's got it!" Roman exclaimed excitedly. "Just keep doing this until it reaches about here..." He gestured to a spot on the leg sticks. "...and it will make a beautiful shell for your turtle to live in!"

Ah, there the turtle was! Thomas could see it now! He followed the directions quickly and finished off his turtle a bit earlier than the others. The forest green of its body went pretty well with the navy blue and dark raspberry shell. He thought this would also make for a good gift. All of his collected treasures would!

"You seem to have accumulated a bit of a collection, little one," Roman observed as he glanced over.

Thomas smiled wide at him. "I wanna give these gifts to cheer someone up!" He held his rock up to the sun so the light reflected off of it. "It's all shimmery so it's super pretty!" Then he picked up his photograph. "And deer are hard to find 'cause they're so shy, but I got a picture so you could always see one whenever you wanted!" Finally, he showed off his craft. "And the turtle can be a friend when you're all lonely and stuff!"

"You're certainly a considerate boy, Thomas. May I ask who these wonderful gifts are for?"

Thomas shook his head. "Sorry! Gotta make sure it's a surprise. No telling," he explained.

Roman nodded. He put a finger to his lips conspiratorially. "Lips sealed, child. I understand."

* * *

 

"Alright, uh...kiddos? Yeah, that works. Patton calls you that, right?" Anx shooed a few children to the rug in the center of the room. "Kiddos, I'm gonna put the movie in. If you want popcorn, you're gonna sit down and shut up."

A small boy near the back gasped. "That's not a nice word!"

"Two words, actually," Anx corrected. "And...sorry?" The boy seemed to accept this answer and went back to poking at the kid in front of him. Anx sighed defeatedly. "I am not cut out for this."

He grabbed the DVD from his backpack leaned up against the wall. A classic Disney movie seemed like the perfect choice to keep the kids' mouths closed and since Anx owned so many, he could bring multiple movies a day. He wasn't likely to get too sick of his job this way. As soon as it was playing on the dinky little television, all mouths were closed. Anx smiled in victory and snuck away to the kitchen to make the popcorn.

He'd just put a second batch into the microwave and was getting ready to pour the finished bag into a bowl when he was interrupted. Suddenly seeing a small figure in the shadows made him yelp and jump a little. He quickly realized it was only a camper though. This one was named Thomas, if Anx remembered correctly.

"Mister Anks, I wanted to-"

"Woah, kid! Out, out, out!" Anx moved quickly. He shooed Thomas back out the door, simultaneously pouring popcorn and glancing over to make sure he was the only child running around. He sighed in relief to see the group silent and still sat on the rug. "Jesus, kid, almost gave me a- oh!" Thomas's lips were pressed in a sad pout. "D-Don't cry on me, okay? You're not in trouble!"

"I-I'm not!"

"No, no, 'course not!" Anx knelt down to be at eye level with the eight year old. "Listen: there's a lot of dangerous stuff out in the kitchen right now. I don't want you guys goin' near any of it when I'm not watching. I was just...worried, alright? Don't sweat it." He walked back into the kitchen to check on the other popcorn bag, as well as put the filled bowl aside, before returning to little Thomas. "Now, did you need something?"

"Oh! Yeah!" Thomas began digging in his pockets. "I have things for you."

"...Huh?"

"Yeah!" Thomas pulled out the pebble from the lake. "I found this cool looking rock after I went fishing with Patton! It looks like your clothes!"

Anx glanced down. His t-shirt was purple and his hoodie was black and gray, fitting the rocks shining colors. "I mean you're not wrong."

Then Thomas unfolded the Polaroid picture he took. "I took this on the hike with Logan! Look how close I got to the deer!"

Anx nodded, impressed. "Really cool, Thomas."

"And finally, Roman taught us how to make these lil' turtles! He didn't have a lotta dark colors but I didn't think you'd mind!"

"He looks great, dude." Anx held the presents in his hands. He stared for a few seconds. "These...These are all for me?"

Thomas looked down. He suddenly seemed shy, a bit self-conscious. "You looked kinda lonely an' sad today...I wanted to cheer you up! And be your friend, Anks!"

 _'No, Anx,'_ Anx scolded himself. _'You are not tearing up. You are not going to cry. You'll freak out the kid. Don't you dare cry.'_

"Anks?"

"Um...you can call me Virgil." Thomas's eyes went wide. Virgil seemed to immediately regret the decision. "I-I mean, if you want! That's my real name and, like, my friends call me that, so whatever."

"Virgil! Virgil!" Thomas began clapping in a rhythm. "Virgil, Virgil, Virgil-"

"Kid, shh! The other campers don't know my name!"

"It's so fun to say, though! Virge, Virge, Virge!" Thomas giggled. "But friends can keep secrets! I'll call you Anks with the others but I know you're Virge!"

Virgil sighed. His smile was filled with sentiment. He was glad to not have to force it either. As Thomas scurried back to finish the movie with the others, Virgil returned to the kitchen. He soon came out with two big bowls of popcorn, which were passed around the group of children surprisingly well. Virgil was able to spend the rest of the time enjoying the movie for himself.

 _'You know...maybe I'm not doing so bad after all,'_ he thought.

"M-Mister..," someone called out. "I don't feel good...I think I'm gonna-"

"Oh God, don't throw up, please don't throw up, I am not prepared for this-"

* * *

 

The sun was beginning to get very low in the sky. Cars pulled up to the entrance. Some parents were coming in while others waited for their children to get in their vehicles. The first day of summer day camp was coming to a close.

Thomas could see his parents' car in the distance, but he wanted to make sure he said goodbye to all his friends. He waved to the kids he fished with. He smiled at the child that helped him when he tripped on the hike. He yelled to the ones he sat next to during the movie. Then, he snuck his way back into the cabin.

With the campers leaving, it was mostly just the counselors in there now. They all sat on their respective seats to relax. Thomas wasn't listening, but Patton seemed to be engrossed in a story Logan was telling, probably about what he saw in the forest that day. Roman was painting his nails dark red. Virgil was tapping away at his phone, staying far away from the other three.

Thomas barged in and went straight for Virgil. "Viiiiirge! I'm leaving!" He hugged Virgil's arm tightly.

Virgil jumped, once again surprised by the sudden greeting, but quickly relaxed. "Alright, alright, see you tomorrow, Thomas." There was a pause. He coughed awkwardly. "Really though, your folks are waiting."

Thomas sighed and nodded. He waved one last time before running back out and disappearing. Virgil was afraid to look at the others. What had they seen? What had they heard?

It turned out that he didn't even need to turn around; Patton's voice was already squealing, "Oooooooh Virgiiiiiil!"

"God, Patton, no!" Virgil scolded playfully. "You're so loud!"

Roman's smug smile made Virgil want to hit him. "Seems the dark doll can be a good role model after all."

Logan shrugged. "I'm not sure why any of you were surprised. Though his anxious nature creates certain issues, it ultimately leads to the protectiveness of an older brother towards his younger siblings. He was hired for a reason, after all."

"I suppose," Roman chuckled. "But he certainly isn't too protective of me."

Virgil rolled his eyes. "Aren't you the prince here, Romeo? You can handle yourself just fine."

Patton shrieked again. "Aww, that's so sweet of you, Virgil!"

"N-No, that wasn't meant to be a good thing! I- ugh!"

His protests fell on deaf ears as the counselors' laughter echoed across the forest. They'd head home shortly, but for now the chill atmosphere of nature and of the camp itself was comforting. They could spend just a few moments together before separating to prepare for tomorrow's activities.

**Author's Note:**

> Yet another Sanders Sides fic. Not a shippy one this time, though! I was genuinely shocked to realize that I didn't slip anything in while writing haha! I might come back to this AU someday, it's lots of fun!
> 
> Thanks so much for reading! Comments and kudos are very much appreciated!


End file.
